In 1995 and 1997, respectively, Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher, both of whom were white, were denied admission to the University of Michigan’s School of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) despite being qualified or well-qualified according to the university’s academic standards. The two filed a class-action suit alleging racial discrimination in violation of the equal protection clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964), which assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs. The admissions policy then used by the LSA, which was aimed at achieving racial diversity within the student body, automatically awarded points to candidates whose race was African American, Hispanic, or Native American. In Gratz v. Bollinger, the court ruled by a 6–3 majority that the LSA’s use of race or ethnicity in its admissions policy was not “narrowly tailored” and thus too closely approximated the racial quotas that the court had determined were inconsistent with the equal protection clause in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978); seeBakke decision. The court’s opinion in Gratz was written by Chief JusticeWilliam Rehnquist.

In 1997 Barbara Grutter, who was white, was denied admission to the University of Michigan Law School despite being well-qualified according to the school’s academic standards; she then filed suit alleging violation of the equal protection clause and Title VI. The admissions policy then used by the school took the race of the candidate into account but did not grant an automatic and significant advantage to certain candidates on the basis of race or ethnicity. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the court ruled by a 5–4 majority that the school’s admissions policy, unlike that of the LSA, did not violate the equal protection clause or Title VI because it used race in a “narrowly tailored” and “holistic” manner within a system of highly individualized interviews, treating race or ethnicity as merely a “ ‘plus’ in a particular applicant’s file,” as recommended by Justice Lewis F. Powell in his concurring opinion in Bakke. The court’s opinion in Grutter was written by Sandra Day O’Connor.

The admissions policy approved in Grutter became illegal in Michigan in 2006, after voters approved a state constitutionalamendment banning discrimination or preferential treatment “on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” The Supreme Court upheld the amendment as it applied to school admissions policies in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014).

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